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ASP.NET - Web Services

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A web service is a web-based functionality accessed

using the protocols of the web to be used by the web
applications. There are three aspects of web service
development:

Creating the web service

Creating a proxy
Consuming the web service

Creating a Web Service

A web service is a web application which is basically a
class consisting of methods that could be used by
other applications. It also follows a code-behind
architecture such as the ASP.NET web pages,
although it does not have a user interface.

To understand the concept let us create a web service

to provide stock price information. The clients can
query about the name and price of a stock based on
the stock symbol. To keep this example simple, the
values are hardcoded in a two-dimensional array. This
web service has three methods:

A default HelloWorld method

A GetName Method
A GetPrice Method

Take the following steps to create the web service:

Step (1) : Select File -> New -> Web Site in Visual
Studio, and then select ASP.NET Web Service.

Step (2) : A web service file called Service.asmx and

its code behind file, Service.cs is created in the
App_Code directory of the project.

Step (3) : Change the names of the files to

StockService.asmx and StockService.cs.

Step (4) : The .asmx file has simply a WebService

directive on it:

<%@ WebService Language="C#" CodeBehind="~/A

Step (5) : Open the StockService.cs file, the code

generated in it is the basic Hello World service. The
default web service code behind file looks like the
following:

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Linq;

using System.Web;
using System.Web.Services;
using System.Web.Services.Protocols;

using System.Xml.Linq;

namespace StockService
{
// <summary>
// Summary description for Service1
// <summary>

[WebService(Namespace = "http://tempuri.o
[WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfil
[ToolboxItem(false)]

// To allow this Web Service to be called

// using ASP.NET AJAX, uncomment the foll
// [System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptServ

public class Service1 : System.Web.Servic

{
[WebMethod]

public string HelloWorld()

{
return "Hello World";
}
}
}

Step (6) : Change the code behind file to add the two
dimensional array of strings for stock symbol, name
and price and two web methods for getting the stock
information.

using System;
using System.Linq;

using System.Web;
using System.Web.Services;
using System.Web.Services.Protocols;

using System.Xml.Linq;

[WebService(Namespace = "http://tempuri.org/
[WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles

// To allow this Web Service to be called fr

// using ASP.NET AJAX, uncomment the followi
// [System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptService

public class StockService : System.Web.Servi

{
public StockService () {
//Uncomment the following if using des
//InitializeComponent();
}

string[,] stocks =
{
{"RELIND", "Reliance Industries", "106
{"ICICI", "ICICI Bank", "911.55"},
{"JSW", "JSW Steel", "1201.25"},
{"WIPRO", "Wipro Limited", "1194.65"
{"SATYAM", "Satyam Computers", "91.10"
};

[WebMethod]
public string HelloWorld() {
return "Hello World";
}

[WebMethod]
public double GetPrice(string symbol)
{
//it takes the symbol as parameter and
for (int i = 0; i < stocks.GetLength
{
if (String.Compare(symbol, stocks
return Convert.ToDouble(stocks[i,
}

return 0;
}

[WebMethod]
public string GetName(string symbol)
{
// It takes the symbol as parameter an
// returns name of the stock
for (int i = 0; i < stocks.GetLength
{
if (String.Compare(symbol, stocks
return stocks[i, 1];
}

return "Stock Not Found";

}
}

Step (7) : Running the web service application gives a

web service test page, which allows testing the service
methods.

Step (8) : Click on a method name, and check whether

it runs properly.

Step (9) : For testing the GetName method, provide

one of the stock symbols, which are hard coded, it
returns the name of the stock

Consuming the Web Service

For using the web service, create a web site under the
same solution. This could be done by right clicking on
the Solution name in the Solution Explorer. The web
page calling the web service should have a label
control to display the returned results and two button
controls one for post back and another for calling the
service.

The content file for the web application is as follows:

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"

<head runat="server">
<title>
Untitled Page
</title>
</head>

<body>

<form id="form1" runat="server">

<div>

<h3>Using the Stock Service</h3>

<br /> <br />

<asp:Label ID="lblmessage" runat

<br /> <br />

<asp:Button ID="btnpostback" run

   
<asp:Button ID="btnservice" runa

</div>
</form>

</body>
</html>

The code behind file for the web application is as

follows:

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Data;
using System.Linq;

using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;

using System.Xml.Linq;

//this is the proxy

using localhost;

namespace wsclient
{
public partial class _Default : System.
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender
{
if (!IsPostBack)
{
lblmessage.Text = "First Loading
}
else
{
lblmessage.Text = "PostBack at:
}
}

protected void btnservice_Click(object

{
StockService proxy = new StockServi
lblmessage.Text = String.Format("Cu
proxy.GetPrice("SATYAM").ToString
}
}
}

Creating the Proxy

A proxy is a stand-in for the web service codes. Before
using the web service, a proxy must be created. The
proxy is registered with the client application. Then the
client application makes the calls to the web service as
it were using a local method.

The proxy takes the calls, wraps it in proper format and

sends it as a SOAP request to the server. SOAP
stands for Simple Object Access Protocol. This
protocol is used for exchanging web service data.

When the server returns the SOAP package to the

client, the proxy decodes everything and presents it to
the client application.

Before calling the web service using the

btnservice_Click, a web reference should be added to
the application. This creates a proxy class
transparently, which is used by the btnservice_Click
event.

protected void btnservice_Click(object sende

{
StockService proxy = new StockService();
lblmessage.Text = String.Format("Current
proxy.GetPrice("SATYAM").ToString());
}

Take the following steps for creating the proxy:

Step (1) : Right click on the web application entry in

the Solution Explorer and click on 'Add Web
Reference'.

Step (2) : Select 'Web Services in this solution'. It

returns the StockService reference.

Step (3) : Clicking on the service opens the test web

page. By default the proxy created is called 'localhost',
you can rename it. Click on 'Add Reference' to add the
proxy to the client application.

Include the proxy in the code behind file by adding:

using localhost;

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